"Get Up" Shay's eyes snapped open instantly, and he turned his head, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness. "Alec?"

"Yeah. Get dressed. I'll be in the lounge" Alec turned and left, heading into the other room. A lot of the younger transgenics had been assigned barrack like accommodation, with older types to keep an eye on them, help them assimilate. Storm had the room next door, and Alec entered that one too, repeating his message.

Thirty seconds later, the two of them stood in the lounge, instantly alert, facing Alec. "Tired?" he asked, as Shay hid a yawn.

"No" he replied instantly, grinning. If Alec had something planned, there was no way that he was going to be left out.

"You up for a mission?" Alec asked him. "Say no if you don't feel right. I won't hold it against you, you've been through a lot lately."

Shay raised his head to look directly into Alec's eyes. "What do you want me to do?"

Alec gestured to the couch, and took a seat himself. Storm and Shay followed. "You heard about Logan's little mission tonight?"

Storm nodded. "We trailing them?" he asked eagerly

"Nah. Whatever shit Logan pulls, he won't endanger Max. and she can take care of herself with the rest of it. They will however, be pretty busy for a few hours."

Shay grinned. "Little B&E huh?"

"Well, not exactly. I mean, entering, sure, but we don't have to break in. He's staying at Joshua's, and I have a key."

"Logan know about that?"

"Don't care."

Storm nodded. His thoughts exactly.



Max stood outside the building, looking up at it, scanning for entrances. Alec had talked about the second storey window. It looked shut, probably locked, but if Alec had said it was open, well, it would be. Beside her, Logan shifted impatiently.

"Stop it" she whispered. "Max, there's no-one in there, okay? My source said it was clear."

Max shrugged. Her source said it wouldn't be. And she knew who she would be believing. "Blame my training." She replied quietly. "Always check for yourself. Intell has a very limited shelf-life."

"There!" she whispered a few minutes later. From one of the windows on the third floor, a flicker of light could be seen. "Flashlight" she muttered.

"What? But my source was very clear. He said that the guards went of duty at midnight."

Max shrugged. "And yet there's a light." She watched the light, waiting for it to move down to the second floor, or up to the fourth. There was nothing they could do until she knew which route the guard was taking.



Alec put the key in the lock and turned it. Easy. He turned to grin at Shay. "not as much fun as breaking in, huh?"

"Oh well" Shay shrugged. "I'm sure we can find something inside to break."

"Yeah" they entered the house, and looked around. Joshua's studio had been turned into a computer laboratory. Various random electronic things were lined up on tables, and across the floor. Alec looked briefly at some of it, but he really wasn't too interested.

"Look around. see what you can find" he told them.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Storm asked.

Alec shrugged. "I don't trust him. I never have. And I think that having him anywhere near us is bad. But, Max thinks he's on our side, and I trust her judgement too. I just want to know where he stands."



"Max, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about" Logan spoke quietly as they watched the building.

"Hmm?" she replied, her eyes scanning the windows for a flashlight.

"I miss us" he said simply. Max dragged her attention away from the window to focus on him.

"when we got that temporary cure, I thought that everything was finally falling into place. Holding you in my arms, it was perfect. But then, when the time ran out, it felt like the universe was against us."

Max nodded. She knew how he felt.

"But I never gave up, Max. we're meant to be together, I know that. And I know that there's a lot of stuff going on right now, I know that you don't have time to do anything but focus on your family, and I understand that. I do. What I'm saying is, I want to help. Any way I can. And when we solve the immediate problem, getting Tim back, I'd really like to spend some time alone with you. Get out of Seattle for a day or so." He smiled at her, and Max smiled too. She looked down and nodded. "I'd like that"

"Alec, check this out" Storm hissed. Alec looked up from some files he had been flipping through.

"What've you got?" he asked, moving over to stand behind Storm, leaning against the chair.

"Logan said he got the information from a source, right? A source at the sector police HQ?"

"Yeah" Alec said, looking over Storm's shoulder at the computer screen, which had been paused. All he could see was an aerial view of a street.

"Not from a hoverdrone?"

"No. him and Max went through all the footage he could get a few days ago. There was nothing on them."

"Yeah. Well, that's not completely accurate. See this? Hoverdrone footage on his computer."

Storm pressed play. Alec vaguely recognised the building from photos he had seen of it.

"Shay" he called, and the other boy looked up. "Yeah?"

Alec gestured him over, then turned his attention back to the screen. A van pulled up to the gate, and was let inside.

"That's where. that's where I was held" Shay said.

"Yeah, and check out the time" Storm commented. "That's the day after you escaped, right?"

"Maybe he didn't see it." Alec said dully. "There's a lot of footage here, a few dozen tapes. This is, what, ten seconds? He may have missed it."

"Alec." Storm turned to face him. "This is the only tape that has been deleted. The others have just been thrown to one side. he tried to erase this. he knew what he had found."

Alec turned and walked away a few paces. He needed to think. His first reaction was to find Logan, and hurt him. it was a simple plan, but a good one. A really good one. He pictured Tim, the day before the mission, sparring with Shay, both of them laughing, having fun even though they knew what was coming the following night. If Logan had given Max the tape, they still wouldn't have found Tim in time, got to him before he was moved, but they would have had a starting point. They would have been able to do something before the trail got too cold. And it was cold now. Max had trusted him. Max believed in him. and he had screwed her over.

First instincts were often the correct response.

He looked over at Storm and Shay, who were staring at him, waiting for him to say something.

"Here's the deal." He told them, stepping towards them. "We were never here tonight. Therefore, we do not have this information. We do not know that Logan fucked us over. We do not talk about this, to anyone. Understand?"

"But, Max." Shay spoke up. "We have to tell her. She thinks Logan is great, she thinks he's on our side, that he's helping us. We have to tell her." Shay felt a surge of anger rush through him. he hated Logan. Logan should just go away, and leave them alone. He should, in particular, leave Max alone. Leave Max and Alec alone.

"No." Alec said firmly. "You know how loyal Max is to her friends. She wouldn't believe us. She wouldn't want to believe us, and so she'll find a way to disregard anything we say. She needs to learn about Logan for herself."

Shay nodded. It didn't make sense to him, not really, but he didn't know Max as well as Alec did.

"Go back to TC. I'll talk to you tomorrow"

"Where are you going?" Storm asked eagerly. "Need backup?"

Alec shook his head. "Nah, I got this one covered. It's about time we had a discussion, and tonight seems about as good as any."

After they left, Alec took a seat on the couch, facing the door. He sat in the darkness, and waited.